Day 6: Syrian border and Zaatari refugee camp

Traumatized children
Today went to Ramtha, which is a Jordanian border city to Syria. We set up our mobile clinic at the regional branch office of the Jordanian Womens Union (JWU). The doctors saw more than hundred Syrian refugees for consultations and treatments, and they again received free medication. In the meantime, some of us took care of the many children that had joined their parents for their visits. During the morning hours, we got the children engaged with water colour painting, which, from the experience of the previous days, had a very soothing effect on the children. We spoke to their parents, who expressed their concerns about the future, and possible scenarios for Syria. The employee of the JWU told us a story of one of the painting children (Douha). When she arrived to Jordan, she would not speak because of the shock she had from the bombing in Syria, but that now, especially through a special children programme, she restarted to speak again.

We were also interviewed by Drew (who is making a documentary about the mission), who asked us questions about the educational projects we will be supporting with the help of your donations.

Zaatari camp visit – living in the desert in a tent, and no end near…
We had a lot of respect of the visit in the afternoon, as the Zaatari refugee camp visit stood on the agenda. Until now, the Zaatari camp has grown to the largest camp on Jordanian territory, and the fourth largest (!) city of Jordan with its 140’000 refugee inhabitants (UNHCR), which makes it, in terms of its population as big as Darmstadt (our hometown in Germany). In Zaatari, we met local staff from the IRD (International Refugee Development, which works together with the UNHCR). They spoke to us about the camp in general and the most pressing issues in detail. As major challenges, the IRD representative mentioned (1) the situation of the elderly (daily care, medical treatment etc.) and the necessity of a retirement home as well as of the (2) situation of childrens’ education. As to the first challenge, the camp so far cannot provide an infrastructure to allow elderly people to have the support and care they need. In terms of education, not all children in the camp go to school on a regular basis. Efforts exist but time is playing against the children and they are losing momentum…

Moreover, the increasing influx of new refugees is not stopping; it fluctuates according to the number and severity of the attacks on Syrian cities, and goes at times up to 3’000 refugees a day. As we could not set up our mobile clinic in the camp, we used our stay at Zaatari to discover the site and get a feel of its dimensions (9km perimeter). 

In January 2013, Zaatari camp consisted only of sectors 1 and 2.

New friends for the toys
At Zaatari camp, we met two cute little girls, which we thought would be two ideal new friends for the toy pets that Sophia from Zurich had entrusted to us. The two girls were very happy.

As mentioned in earlier posts, by far not all refugees live in camps. Some of them, among them very tragic stories, live in the proximity of the camps, in run-down houses, or even in tents that someone had “taken” from the UNHCR. We visited a number of these houses, and went into their homes to assess their situation. Thanks to your donations, we will be able to support these families (widows; old men who are injured (e.g., shot into the leg), families with a large number of children and no breadgainer,…

There is no mobile clinic tomorrow, which gives us the chance to study our projects in more detail, so that you will have the update over this weekend..